Infatuation
by sweet-destiny3
Summary: The eyes are the key to the soul...Who is this woman that has her eyes on the one eyed member of the X-men...read and review to find out! JOTT.
1. Soon

**Disclaimer** If I owned them I would have the pleasure of being with them. I would not be writing stories about them on fanfiction

**Author's Note** This story takes place after X2, after the Phoenix saga deal. So she's back to normal now and she's living! :) If you read the story that I wrote a while back called "Reflections: The Uprising" you could consider this story to take place after that one. Oh and I will not write more if you do not review. SO REVIEW!!! Please!!! I breathe off of reviews and I'll die if you don't do so. I appreciate all readers and am very grateful for reviews. Thanks to my sister and everyone in my life who support me. Thank you so much. Hey, if you like this story than I suggest that you should read Pinkchick's stories. They're really enjoyable and will give you great satisfaction. Well, read, review, and ENJOY!

**Infatuation**

**Chapter One**

"**Soon"**

"Scott?"

"Jean, it was just a dream."

"I can't even feel it Scott. I can't."

"Jean……"

"Tell me Scott."

"Tell you about what? It's nothing."

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The woman ran the round brush through her long, thick blond hair as she kept a grip on the handle with her pale fingers and perfectly French manicured fingernails. She looked at her reflection and smiled, which caused her honey brown eyes to squint but never blink. She applied her bright red lipstick on her full lips as the finishing touches to her black eyeliner and golden jewelry that shone upon her soft skin. She drew her head back slightly to take a moment to admire her flawless reflection. She kissed the mirror to leave a red print of lips upon the middle of it.

She lifted herself from her cushioned seat gracefully as her body disappeared, evaporated into the perfume scented air of the room that was shadowed by the sun. Not a trace of color appeared in the atmosphere of the room. Her body vanished like invisible ink only to what the eyes can see.

She reappeared to be seated next to a unique painting. The painting emanated a variety of different colors. Each color seemed to be a trademark. A trademark of their mutant abilities. A trademark of their personalities. But one color centered the woman's brown eyes. She fixated them on the middle. Red seemed to be his trademark color. Red for the visor his face held ever so tightly. She inhaled deeply and firmly placed the tip of her middle and index finger upon the side of the man's visor. A painting. Merely an image. "Soon," her deep, womanly voice spoke. Her plump red lips moved, but her honey eyes were still fixated on the realistic image of this man. As if she knew these people from base to tip. The detail of the image suggests such a thing.

She looked over to the glass of water that was placed on the table of art supplies. This water was used to clear one color from a paint brush and apply another. Because each one of the seven seemed to hold a different trademark color. She placed the color of the white tips of her manicure upon the cup and brought it to center the palm of her hand. With one hand busying the two fingers upon the image of the man in the painting, the other crushed the glass cup between all five fingers. The water encircled the blood and glass upon her cold hand as the glass fell to the ground. The water shattered upon it.

Her eyes did not move from the center of the painting where the mysterious man with the visor lay. She did not cry with pain. The blood stained the unique painting. The blood stained adamantium claws. Red stained white hair and blue skin. Dried blood was painted across bright blue eyes and white strips. She smiled with satisfaction as she rubbed the dripping wet blood with fiery red hair. She mixed it into green eyes and slashed her blood marked fingers across her face.

She looked at the center of the painting once again. She gazed at the mysterious man wearing a visor and pursed her lips. "Soon."

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He adjusted his leather jacket around his muscular arms and made it as if it was easy to have such a solemn and serious face. His dark brown hair was moosed upwards like two un-pointed horns floating above his head. His back was placed roughly against the wall next to the entrance. His erected posture had not faltered and he had not failed to eye every single person who stood outside this very important entrance. He had noticed another man, of the same job description, who had walked out with an intimidating stare on his stoned face. It resembled his expression on so many levels.

The other man wore red sunglasses and a white button up shirt. Contrary to all appearances, this man was just as intimidating as the other. Just as muscular, but a little taller, he seemed perfectly normal to everyone standing outside in the bright sunlight and clear blue sky. The definition of normal to the eyes of the beholders. Despite his firm posture and intimidating stare, he never failed to notice the blossomed flowers in the bright Springtime in Westchester, New York. A time where the local people hurried to the doctor's office for their children's allergies. And today, many of them had decided to try the free clinic that opened in a peaceful side of town, away from the hectic streets of urbanization.

He folded his arms across his muscular and well-built chest as if he were guarding something sacred. The neat and boyishly cut chestnut hair fell to the sides of his face, subtracting a point to the high level of his intimidation skills. He had not replied to his uncooperative hair as he leaned his long body against the wall opposite of the other man. He turned to him with a straight face and a familiar, knowing look.

The attention of the two men turned to the door which had suddenly opened. A woman with short red hair and a long, slender body walked out with a clipboard in her hands. She adjusted her knee-length, white lab coat against her knee-length black skirt. She looked very professional with a lab coat placed over her half-sleeved, circular collared red shirt. She looked to her right slowly. Then to her left, eyeing each one of the men with disbelief. She rolled her eyes slightly with a hint of laughter floating in them. "Scott, Logan," she said through her professional doctor speaking voice. She placed her hands on her hips with slight irritation as her voice went into a normal irritated tone, "what exactly are you two doing?" She wrapped her arms around the clipboard and held the clipboard against her upper body.

"Security," Scott said with a solemn expression as he looked straight ahead. Jean looked at him and let a little smile slip her lips. Scott did not strike anyone as the class clown type or the jokester of the family. But if they saw the expression he had on his face at the moment they would have to crack a smile. But the more she thought about it, she decided she would be the only one who smiled at something like that because no one knew him like she did.

She turned to Logan who had his usual gruff expression and remembered when Logan first came to the mansion. The mansion for gifted youngsters. A home for mutants where they all had become a giant family. Logan was a part of that family. That is what she considered him to be now, nothing more. Something had attracted her to him, despite her engagement to Scott. His charm had captured her attention like sugar and water to an insect. But when Scott had been captured during the fiasco with a anti-mutant man named Striker, Jean had felt the love she held for the man who loved her back just as much. After she believed something had happened to him, her heart almost broke into two pieces. He was a part of her and he always will be. No words could explain their emotional bond that had formed between the two. It had been an exciting experience to flirt with the dangerous Wolverine, but she knew her heart, mind, body, and soul belonged to the great Cyclops.

With that in mind, she looked to Scott and Logan with a knowing expression and headed down the small flight of wooden steps with her hand on the short rail. She removed the sign that read 'construction' and welcomed all the people waiting outside to come in. The clinic was making it's big debut today. The idea was built by all the members of the X-men when Jean decided she wanted to practice her medicine more to anyone in need of help. No charge needed. On one condition, there would be no information distributed that the people of the community were being treated by mutants. Despite the feeling of wanting to let people know mutants were harmless.

Jean shrugged it off for now and led everyone inside. She looked towards Logan and Scott. She did not entirely trust them to be her security guards. They might scare some of her patients off. But she just sighed, closed the door behind her, and told Scott and Logan to let any visitors who come, in. Logan and Scott just nodded knowingly and stood in the same position they were in.

A few hours passed and Scott and Logan continued to monitor the front entrance. Scott had went in to help Jean a couple of times, but he had been standing out here for the most part. Watching one patient after another enter the clinic. Scott figured so many people would have come merely because of the word 'free'. He watched one particular patient walk up the stairs and reach for the doorknob. Logan seemed bored and had the urge to stop this man to investigate what was in the briefcase that he carried. "We are going to have to search your briefcase," Logan said gruffly as the man looked at them and backed away slightly. He immediately handed them his briefcase as he watched Logan sniffing it. But before they finished the search of the briefcase, Logan helped a woman with crop cut hair and a five year old child through by opening the door for her.

"Why didn't you stop to search _her_?" the man with the briefcase asked, then just shook his head when Scott handed him his briefcase and allowed him to enter.

Logan looked to Scott and unsheathed his claws. "What's wrong?" Scott asked with concern as Logan dug into his pockets with his claws. The sound of a slice sounded as Logan took half of the now sliced bagel and gave it to Scott. "Thanks."

Logan sniffed the bagel and then dug in. "The man has good taste," Logan said as Scott shook his head and dropped the bagel, that he had already bitten into, on the ground.

"Logan," Scott said, irritated.

"What is it Scooter? Doesn't fulfill your taste buds?" Logan asked with a smirk as he swallowed with satisfaction.

"No," Scott said as he rolled his non-visible eyes behind his red shades. "Don't steal other people's snacks."

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"I think it went pretty well today," Jean said with enthusiasm dripping in her voice. Jean loved the way Scott's ears were always open to her words. He really appreciated her and she loved the way he knew how to keep her entranced in his pursuit. His face was strong yet tender. She anticipated every moment he held her in his arms so strongly, as if he could protect her from anything in this world. Their bond did not allow words to describe feelings. For words such as those did not exist.

Scott heard her echoing voice from the bathroom as he smiled at his reflection in the mirror. He loved to hear Jean happy and content. He never wanted to loose her, especially after he felt like he almost did in the time period where she had become phoenix. But he could say everything was going fine now. He peeked his head out from behind the concrete column of the bathroom door. He dried his wet face and ran the towel over his closed eyes. He reached for his visor and made sure it was securely fastened upon his face. If he ever tried to hurt Jean in any way, especially with his deadly laser shooting eyes, he would never forgive himself.

He watched intently as she ran her brush so gracefully over her smooth and silky red hair. She looked like an angel as he watched her brush her hair so calmly and contently. Jean stood up from her chair and looked at Scott's reflection from behind. He approached her slowly and wrapped his arms around her stomach. He dug his face into her hair and inhaled the sweet scent of red through his nostrils. Jean smiled as she ran her smooth fingers over Scott's muscular arms that held her firmly and strongly. "I hope you're not too tired," Scott whispered with a predatory tone as Jean shivered when he turned her body to face him. He loved the way she held such a peaceful and professional posture. Such a lovely face with a bright mind and strong heart to go along with it. Only Jean could make him fidget or falter. Only Jean could hold him so tenderly in her loving arms and captivate him with doctor-speak. He looked into her eyes and for all it was worth, time had to wait for him to finish.

"I'm never too tired to be with you," Jean whispered into his ears as goose bumps filled his skin like water washed over the great oceans. "I love you," Jean said, and made every word count. Every word had a mountain and an ocean to go along with it. Words that explained something she knew had been missing lately. A thought she did not want to reencounter. She looked at the strong jaw lines of his face and kissable lips and ran her fingers through his hair. The chestnut color of his hair entangled between her fingers made her melt. But another expression had made her eyebrows knit together with confusion and utter dismay.

Scott's expression was no longer tender, but seemed rough around the physical features of his face. His masculine hands cupped her face from both sides harshly and pulled her towards him. His lips pressed hard against hers as he shoved his tongue into her mouth at the gasp she let out. His hands pulled at the roots of her red hair as Jean tried to break away. But his grasp was too tight and her powers were in a solid state at the horror she felt at the moment. One hand moved towards her waist and pulled her intimately against him. He held on tightly and then moved both hands towards her upper arms. _Scott_, Jean thought to him between her own erratic thoughts, _you're hurting me_. But Scott did not respond to her cry. Instead, his hand slid up her shirt roughly as he tugged at her bra strap.

Jean finally got her thoughts together and used her telekinesis to shove him away from her. Scott hit the wall of their large room and jolted his head towards her. "What is the matter with you?!?" Jean exclaimed with horror as Scott's contorted face looked upon Jean with surprise and confusion. If only she could see his eyes.

"I--I'm s--orry J--Jean," Scott said through a choked voice. Jean's eyes looked upon him with fear as no words dared to escape her mouth. She just walked over to her bed and avoided any contact with Scott. She slithered into her bed and pulled the covers over her. Where was she supposed to go? She did not know what had just happened. She turned to the side of the far wall and stared at it blankly.

Her eyes full of fear, as if she knew something was wrong.

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	2. Everything is Fine

**Chapter 2**

"**Everything Is Fine"**

Her black skirt laid upon the middle of her slim thighs as her strapped heels clicked on the surface of the wooden steps. Her tight, strapless red shirt circled around her flat stomach and well built breasts. She showed more cleavage than an average person would. Just enough to have grabbed Logan's attention as she walked through the door of the free clinic.

"Good mornin' Miss," Logan stated in his usual gruff voice. He got up from the seat he was plopped upon and placed the magazine he was reading on the small coffee table. "You here for a check-up?"

"Why, yes Logan," she stated with a slightly seductive voice. Logan looked around the mediocre sized waiting room in confusion. The women with long, thick blond hair just smiled with her plump red lips as she bent down, butt in the air, and picked something off of the ground. Logan could not help but stare at the very attractive woman that showed him just enough skin for him to have his eyes fixated on her. She handed him his name tag and brushed the tips of her fingers against his. Logan was amazed at how she saw the tiny name on the name tag so quickly. Her mischievous brown eyes peered over his shoulder to see two teens and two adults turn away at her look and get back to work. She diverted her brown eyes back to Logan and gazed seductively into his own brown eyes. She was obviously interested, so he was going to ask her what his thoughts spoke of. Before she interrupted. "What would a woman who is not an employee be doing in a free clinic?"

Logan felt as if he had just gotten slapped in the face. Her tone was sarcastic, which made Logan falter, for the first time in history. He opened his mouth in hope for words to come out, but to no avail. Logan was actually speechless. He could not believe his ears. He had never been placed in this kind of situation. He knew nothing was wrong with his sexuality, yet he seemed to be turned down by attractive women lately. First Jean and now her.

"So I see that silence is the comeback of the great Wolverine," the blond woman with well shaped features whispered through her womanly voice. Logan knitted his eyebrows at the woman's words that he had obviously heard because of his high sense of hearing. "Is Dr. Grey-Summers available?" Logan just looked her in the eyes suspiciously. Her eyes told him that his ears were playing tricks on him. So he just nodded his head towards the closed door of the office. He hoped the rest of the day would not go like this. It was still seven in the morning.

The blond woman brushed past him and patted Logan seductively under his chin. Her body grazed past him and Logan turned to watch her attractive figure walk into the clinic. He was struck for a minute. "What just happened here?"

"Logan," Rogue spoke from behind as she eyed everybody who had been watching. Ororo, Kurt, and Bobby all had a smile curling at their lips at the scene that had just occurred. "Ah think you just got rejected."

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Jean motioned for her patient to sit on the examining table. "Right over here." She tried not to roll her eyes at the woman who just walked in. Her ensemble was not something someone would see everyday. Very revealing and inappropriate for these surroundings. She imagined the men out there. They probably suffered just watching her. Jean silently thanked God for Scott not being here at that moment. With the way he has been acting and the way they have been drifting lately, she would not risk him seeing a highly attractive woman. For some odd reason, her telepathic senses gave her a feeling of insecurity when this woman walked in.

But Jean remembered to treat her with respect and not invade her mind. She knew she had to treat her like her patient. She got the equipment needed for a check-up as the patient began a coherent conversation. "Your co-workers outside have a way with your patients," the woman said with an expression that was hard to tell.

Jean began checking the woman's ears. Everything was fine. She looked to the woman and gave a polite smile. "Were they giving you a hard time?" Jean asked as she pulled the wooden stick out and told the woman to open her mouth wide. "Or was Logan giving you a hard time?" she asked as she threw the stick in the trash can.

The woman nodded knowingly. "Rogue and Bobby seem to be enjoying their work. With such young enthusiasm," she stated solemnly. "Storm and Kurt are happy to be doing what they are doing but wish there was something more. It's Logan who's eyes seem to be distant and bored."

"I see," Jean said with a little enthusiasm in your voice. "A patient who comes so early in the morning would be introduced to all of my friends. Just wait until it strikes twelve. No more introducing people or sitting around being bored. It's called rush hour in the doctor's office," Jean said with an open and wide smile.

The woman was silent. No smile, no enthusiasm. She just peered towards Jean's hands. "Beautiful wedding ring. I love the engraving," she said as Jean slipped out the eye examiner.

"Thank you," Jean slightly muttered. She pointed the eye examiner towards the woman's brown eyes. Before she could check them, the eye examiner slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground. She picked the eye examiner off of the floor and brought herself off of the ground to find emptiness.

"Where did she go?"

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Ororo Munroe walked into the office of the clinic and watched a usually swift body move quite erratically. She eyed her friend from behind with her curious and warm brown eyes. She moved forward with tiny steps to see if Jean noticed her. She waited. Apparently not. She cleared her throat with emphasis. But Jean's head did not move an inch. With a crease of her shaped eyebrows she said lightly, "Jean?" Jean continued with her work. She obviously did not hear her. This was definitely not like her. Ororo knew Jean very well as a teammate and best friend. Jean was usually a calm -- when she was not angry -- woman who worked at a steady pace. She had a wonderful technique to hiding her feelings, but the more Ororo thought about it, the more she came to realize that that is what most of the members of the X-men do. What many people in this world resort to. But Ororo knew something was bothering Jean and she also knew she was not resting until she made her talk to her about it. "Jean," Ororo said a little louder this time.

Jean's head darted towards a head of white. She smiled and said a brief greeting. Then she resumed to searching for God knows what. Storm's eyes followed left and right to catch up with her accelerated friend. "Storm," Jean said, referring to her X-men name, "Have you seen my sphygmomanometer?"

"Look to your left," Storm said with a tiny smile at Jean's oblivious behavior. It seemed as if she was busying herself with her work blindly to ignore the words threatening to escape. "You opened the clinic at five in the morning."

"How did…"

"The professor. Just before he left to England," Ororo answered as Jean nodded her head knowingly. "You worked hard yesterday. We all did. You need your share of sleep."

Jean searched the room blindly. Ororo knew she was not looking for anything specific, but wanted to ignore the subject. Jean's eyes glistened with water from tiredness and fear. Jean knew Ororo was waiting for her to let loose and tell her everything. But she did not know where to start. Storm was her best friend, but she would not understand the loss of feeling she felt. That telepathic connection and link between her and Scott was fading slowly. How was she supposed to explain that to Storm? But she decided that she had to say something. "I wasn't in a peaceful state with my telepathic mind to get some shut eye," Jean admitted, and felt that this was a start. Ororo looked at her with curiosity and some empathy. Jean did not like this awkward feeling of silence, which was probably why she somehow allowed the connection to be lost. "It's Scott," she said bluntly. She felt a feeling of fear gurgle in her stomach which made her feel powerless to go around the subject.

"What's wrong?" Ororo asked with concern. She hoped nothing was wrong with her two best friends. Jean and Scott were the one couple that kept everyone else hopeful to find their own soul mate. If something was not going right between the two, then all the hope everyone has for love is lost. "Is Scott okay?"

"He's fine," Jean almost muttered between clenched teeth. She pushed all the patients she treated and the X-men aside and tried to ignore the thoughts floating in her mind. Now she was saying what was bothering her out loud. Where she could hear the painful words with her own ears. "It's not as strong as it was." Ororo just looked at her with a questioning expression.

"What do you mean exactly?"

"Hope I'm not interrupting," a voice came from the office door. Hands behind his back, he walked towards the two women that were very important people in his life. His chestnut hair in the same combed position it was always in. With a line through the middle of his head, two strands fell to the sides of his forehead. He wore a light blue button up shirt that Jean had bought him for his birthday. "How are my two favorite women?" he asked with a somewhat expressionless voice. Jean recognized his physical appearance, his deep, serious voice. She recognized the same stern face and ruby quartz sunglasses. But she did not recognize or understand his mood. Here she was thinking their strong relationship was going down the drain when he was standing there with a light expression on his face, as if nothing had happened last night.

Scott looked to Ororo with a light smile. "Oh…uh…I…I better be on my way now," Ororo stuttered as she understood Scott's expression. The concept was not often used. She held the doorknob and mouthed the words 'tell him' to Jean as Jean curled her lips slightly when Ororo shut the door. Jean looked to Scott and for the first time had doubts about being alone in the same room together.

Scott looked at Jean lovingly. She held an uncomfortable position. Had he said or done anything that could make her feel so uncomfortable that she had to fidget around him? He felt as if flowers were the right ingredient to praise Jean for her outstanding idea to open a free clinic. To allow people to blindly be treated kindly by mutants was a blessing. It gave them the feeling that what the X-men fought for was a true and realistic goal. And so did the flowers that symbolized his love for Jean. He was not a man to think of flowers as a symbol. But women loved them. She was beautiful and she deserved something beautiful from the man that loved her. "These are for you," Scott said as he pulled the heap of red flowers from around his back. Jean accepted gently and gave the slightest smile.

Scott was confused. He thought she would love them. There was only one way to find out. He leaned in for a kiss, even a peck. But all he saw was Jean walk away and as she placed the red flowers on the sink table. "Thank you," Jean said, her expression lighter than before. "Scott, about last night…" Jean's voice faded away from Scott's ears. What had she said? What was she saying? "Scott?"

Scott looked at her with a confused expression on his face. "Yes Jean?"

"All I'm saying is that if something is bothering you, you can tell me," Jean said with a soft whisper. She wanted him to open up like he had many times before. There was nothing he needed to tell her at this moment.

"Did I do or say something wrong?" Scott asked with uncertainty. When he saw Jean's furious expression he wished time had a rewind button.

"Uh…Scott! You hurt me last night!" Jean exclaimed with disbelief.

Images of Scott's hands tightly around Jean's arms, waist, and face made him shudder. He saw himself pull her lips forcefully to his. His eyes widened with fear behind his glasses. He knew Jean could read his expression like the back of her mind. "Jean," he whispered lightly with regret. Was that him? What had he done?

Jean tried to read his expression to it's fullest. She also believed that reading his mind would help too. Maybe she could squeeze herself in there. She looked at the reflection of light upon the red of his sunglasses. Her focus was mainly on his tinted glasses. She focused on reading his inner thoughts. But she could not even read his surface thoughts. She telepathically dived into his mind. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even his voice was on mute. "Tell me Scott. Tell me what's wrong." She wished she could see his eyes. Just once even. The physic bond that they had developed when the Phoenix inhabited her body was so powerful. It had brought them even closer and made their love even stronger. Nothing could destroy their bond or their love. They were a part of each other. They shared their souls. But lately she had felt the physic bond that they shared drift away from her grasp slowly. They never discussed it because they were afraid of what would become of it. Sometimes, she felt him wake up in the middle of the night and start shaking. He usually kept to himself, except with her. But he would not talk to her about his dreams. She had stayed out of his mind, hoping that he would tell her telepathically through their bond. But no signs of hope had appeared.

"I'm sorry," Scott said with repeating images of himself in his head. "I'm so sorry." Scott ran his hands through his hair and covered his face with them. Jean winced when she saw his innocent face show regret and hate towards himself. Maybe he was having a bad day. And maybe that was another lie to herself.

He felt Jean's hands over his, bringing them slowly down to look upon his face. She cupped his cheek and ran her fingers over the rim of his glasses. Scott neared her and dug his face into her shoulders. He hated to feel vulnerable, but he needed the woman he loved to reassure him that she still loved him. Moments later he found his answer, "I love you Scott," Jean whispered lightly with all the love her heart could bare.

Scott played with the ends of Jean's red hair as he whispered, "I love you too, Pyrexia."

Jean's body went stiff as her heart began to pound in her ears and throat. She backed away from Scott's arms. Searching his hidden eyes, she tried to pinpoint where his pupils were looking. She wished she could see his eyes. Maybe that would help in so many ways. Jean did not know if she should be angry or feel sympathy for herself. _Who the hell is Pyrexia? _Jean asked herself loudly, feeling the words echoing in her mind and ears.

Jean was a master at containing her feelings, but tears began to well up in the pits of her eyes. Scott looked confused by her expression. "What's wrong Jean?" he asked as if his words shot through one ear and came out the other, evaporating with the air.

"Unbelievable!" Jean screamed through a shaky voice. She did not want to believe it, but nothing was more certain. "Are you cheating on me?" Jean asked rhetorically. She had to hear herself say the words to know that this was reality. She just grabbed her clipboard and walked out of the office.

"Jean!!!" Scott yelled back, behind the closed door. What would make her think he was cheating on her?

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Logan was reading a magazine on one of the waiting room chairs, as he waited for any patients to come in. But Jean had not seemed to be ready when she walked out of her office looking for some materials. Even if any patients came in, he was not intending on speaking with them. Not after the quite humiliating incident that had occurred that did not give his reputation or ego a boost. Logan watched Rogue and Ororo who were cleaning the dust off the tables while Bobby was vacuuming and Kurt was fixing the magazines. He had also been hanging doctor's jokes and nutrition facts on the walls.

"Whah did Jean have to open the clinic so early?" Rogue asked with slight irritation in her voice as she rubbed her eyes wearily, speaking over the sound of Bobby's vacuum. "It's not our fault she's havin' problems with Scott." Logan turned to Rogue to give her a gruff, sort of fatherly look to warn her not to include herself into people's personal lives.

"I am quite glad zat she voke me up from my dreams," Kurt said with a deep breath as the sound of the vacuum defaulted. With those words, everyone's eyes darted towards him with interest and an intrigued spark. "Vhat?" he questioned with his deep German accent.

It had started a few nights back, not the same dreams he had before. Not the dreams of him being experimented on. A dream that he thought did not exist. A dream far worse than his others. But he decided to ignore it as he continued looking through the motorcycle magazine as he held a beer in his hand and swallowed it in many gulps.

Everyone looked away and ignored Kurt's words that brought their memories of the dreams back. "Ya'll can't ignore it," Rogue whispered intently as she shivered when she remembered the blurred visions. Everyone continued their work, secretly listening to their content teammate and friend. She had shrugged it off before but now she felt as if she needed to talk about it. To reassure herself everything was just an image. A part of her self conscious. "Did ya'll see it too?"

"See what Rogue?" Bobby asked with knitted eyebrows, pretending to not know what she was talking about.

"An image of mahself. Ah was lookin' in the mirror," Rogue said with a low tone of voice that seemed drifted in the distance, "and seein' mah features. Seein' mah face…without mah eyes." Everyone seemed to swallow their saliva silently. As if they had seen the same thing. "Weird, ain't it?"

Everyone looked to her as if they were keeping something locked in. The members of the X-men liked to do that often. They kept their feelings within. But Kurt spoke for all their expressions when he said, "Not veird Rogue. Not veird at all."

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Scott looked at the door blankly. What the hell was the matter with Jean? He felt a rush of anger wash over him. Was he not good enough for her? Was she seeing another man? Was her work more important than him? He did not care about the clinic. Why should they treat people who believed they were dangerous and inhumane? Why should they help them get treated by a great doctor? Did Jean actually think, in her naïve mind, that people were going to accept her treatment if they ever found out that they were all mutants? Scott's anger began to rise increasingly. He looked around the office through red tinted glasses and felt the need to crush everything in the office. If the items were crushed, maybe the ignorant patients would not be treated anymore. They did not deserve to be.

Scott felt his temper rise in an uncontrolled manner. He lifted his clenched fists towards his beet red face and lifted his glasses. The red beams shot out uncontrollably from his eyes. They crashed the equipment hanging from the walls. They broke the glass light bulbs inside the glass covering on the ceiling of the office. He felt greatness as he watched things crash and fall to the ground with a loud thud. Hazardous materials fell to the floor and began a spreading fire.

Oblivious to the door slamming open with Jean and a patient standing there in amazement, he continued his destruction. Scott's face was equally joyous with his raging behavior. "SCOTT!" Jean exclaimed as she ran to grab the fire extinguisher off the wall. She never thought that she would have to be obligated to use it. The fire went down as she continuously sprayed from afar. But Scott's beams reached her and went straight towards her stomach, causing the bottom of her back to hit the edge of the sink table. Jean fell to the ground as she cried with pain. If she knew Scott was going to attempt something like that she would have used her telekinesis, but it was all so sudden. She reached her hand out to bring his glasses over his eyes.

Red beams were no longer in sight. But Scott's body was as stiff and straight as a statue. If Jean could compare the two, she would say the statue had life. She looked to the door to find everyone rushing in, but the patient was no where to be seen.

"Jean, are you alright?" Logan asked, his care for the woman he once admired still in tact. He bent down next to her and helped her to sit up straight. He looked to Scott who was standing there with a blank expression on his face.

"What happened here?" Ororo asked, looking around at the broken office. Jean shook her head, projecting no coherent explanation as Logan helped her up. But mid way in the air she collapsed to the ground, holding her stomach in pain.

"I had no time to stop it," Jean said through clenched teeth as she looked to Scott with worry. Everyone looked to him with a confused face. What was wrong with their friend? They were completely oblivious. "Scott?" Jean asked with concern and fear as worry bit into her mind and soul. "Scott?" Jean's shaky voice asked as the lifeless figure stood there with not even the sound of his breathing in the smoke filled air.

The connection between the two was no longer fading, it was had disappeared completely.

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REVIEW FOR MORE!!! ALL WILL BE ANSWERED SOON IF I RECEIVE REVIEWS!!!


	3. Red Eyes?

**Author's Note** Hey everybody! Sorry I took so long to update. With all this Christmas shopping and last minute schoolwork, it's hard to find time for yourself. I won't leave out the laziness the vacation is bringing. There was actually this one day where I sat and watched movies all day! Hehe. Anyways, read, read, read!!! And don't forget to review!

**Chapter 3**

"**Red Eyes?"**

She took a moment to step back and adore her work. What a beautiful painting it was now that she was going to add the finishing touches. Her silky blond hair flowed across her shoulders as her brown eyes took in a sharp stare at the man with the visor. She smiled as she grabbed her paintbrush and dipped it in clear paint. She reached her delicate fingers forward to trace the paintbrush across the edges of his visor. Then she filled in the middle with hungry eyes.

"A man with no eyes," she purred in a whisper. "Interesting. Intriguing."

She squinted her brown eyes so the depths of mischief and obsession were hidden. Making sure everything in the blood filled picture was just right, she reached her slender arms forward to trace the tips of her fingers across the white that filled the place where his visor was drawn. She dipped the paintbrush in black paint and dabbed the painting a little at first. The she followed the tip of the paintbrush and circled around. "Perfect," she said as she admired the perfect circle. She filled in the depths of his eyes making it as black as coal. "I paint the truth."

She leaned in forward to add one last thing. Her signature at the bottom right hand corner of the painting. It read: Pyrexia.

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Storm finally finished patching Jean's stomach up. No deep injuries. Only because Scott's beams did not come out at full force. They had discovered that his beams were dying slowly. Why, they did not know. That is what made him a mutant and a part of this family. What would happen if his powers just disappeared? And why would his powers just disappear? There was no logical explanation for that. There was no logical explanation to what he had done in the clinic. Storm would have thought that Jean knew what was going on because of her and Scott's psychic bond, but she looked extremely confused. "What happened back there?" Jean asked as she looked around the bluish gray infirmary. She knew what she was doing down here but she did not know how. How could Scott do something like this? And especially to her. Everything had been going fine a couple of weeks before. The past two days were like a sudden slap in the face. "Where's Scott?"

"He's in your room Jean," Storm spoke calmly, reassuring her friend that nothing was wrong with him. But the truth was something was wrong with him. Something unexplainable. Without hesitation, Jean shot up from the infirmary's table and scurried out of the lower levels. She felt healing pain. But that was nothing compared to the mental pain she felt when she did not feel Scott's presence in her mind. At this moment she hoped for both. If she could read his mind then she could figure out what was happening. If she could not read his mind, then she could be freed from an overwhelming feeling. She did not want to feel what he was feeling or thinking when he destroyed her office. But she did want to know what he was thinking when he could have killed her if his powers had not been wearing themselves out.

She knew that there was only one way to find out even the slightest information. And more importantly, to make sure everything was alright. She hurried up the long steps of the mansion that were carpeted with red and ran into the room that they both shared. She walked over to their bed and bent down on her knees. She took his hand in hers and looked upon her lying husband. He was stiff, but his breathing was normal. Sweat dripped from his face and Jean wished she could wipe away that sweat and everything would be okay. She did not know if he was dreaming or not. She could not feel anything.

Her fingers ran through his stringy hair as she caressed the skin on his forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Tell me what's happening, Scott. I can't feel it anymore," Jean whispered as her wide open eyes fell upon his chest and her face was buried in his skin. She did not feel as if his abusive or violent behavior was something small. Scott had never been like that for as long as she'd known him, which was almost all their lives. He might have been serious ninety five percent of the time, but he would never deliberately hurt someone.

Jean placed her hand on his forehead and found him to be extremely hot. She looked at him with a sad gleam in her eyes and tightened her grip on his hands. This was the time to be the courageous Jean Grey, but at this very moment she felt otherwise. She spoke softly through a tight throat, "Everything will be alright."

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"I just got off the phone with the Professor," Storm said as the rest of the X-men listened for hope. "He is not able to make it down here right now. But he encourages us all to hang on."

"Listen, we can't tell Jean," Logan said gruffly, eyeing everyone in the room where they usually had their meetings. There was a glass window that led to the garden Storm had tended to so well. Their were just enough chairs in the brown painted walls of the room for the X-men to sit cozily in. Two of those chairs were empty and they did not intend on keeping it that way. "Not right now at least."

"I agree. She already has enough to worry about," Bobby noted afterwards with a worried expression. "She's already worrying about Scott. We can't just tell her that the clinic is being protested against by anti-mutants."

"What's worse is we can't tell her they are closing down her hopes and dreams," Storm said with worry lines formed on her forehead.

"Ah hope that everything with the clinic will pass over and Scott will be ok. Ah'm really worried about 'im," Rogue said as she swallowed the stale saliva sitting in her mouth.

"Yeah, well things aren't that easy in real life kid," Logan said gruffly.

"Ja, ve don't even know vhat's going on vith Scott. And za clinic vill not open again any time in za near future," Kurt said with slight sadness in his eyes. He knew the pain of being rejected and unable to pursue a life of happiness in the world out there. Not when he looked blue. He felt the soft skin of Ororo's hands caress his tenderly. Many people did not believe mutants had the ability to love and to have happiness. For this, he would sometimes look into his yellow eyes in the reflection of a mirror for long moments. He would wonder if those eyes had a soul within them. He knew it was a sin to think of such a thing, because everyone had souls, starting their life out with a good one. But the thoughts crept into his mind when he slept.

Silence rung through the still air of the gentle, honey brown room. That's when Bobby had heard it. He had heard the voice that somehow made his bones shudder with fear. Was it a voice? Or was it the sound of a shadow creeping against the floor and windows? It reminded him of the fear that he felt when he dreamt of him hearing and feeling everything, but not being able to see anything. He looked to Rogue who seemed to be in deep thought. Maybe if he did not see her he would not have the desire that he had for her. Maybe he would not have to think about touching her. If he could not see her, maybe he would be able to ignore the fear of never being able to touch her creep in his bones. He looked to everyone else in wonder. He wondered if they had heard what he did. It seemed loud enough. "Did you hear that?" he asked as everyone looked at him curiously. As if he had been talking about hearing a shadow.

"Hear what, Bobby?" Logan asked gruffly as he unsheathed his claws. That's weird. If anybody would have heard it, it would have been Logan with his keen ability of hearing. But he felt a twinge of trying to block something out that he knew was there.

"Bobby, are you okay?" Rogue asked with concern. Bobby just shook his head with a recovering look and got up from his black chair.

"I'm fine," Bobby said. "I just need some fresh air."

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Scott's eyeballs raced beneath his eyelids. Left, right, left, right. His eyebrows knitted, his face dripping with sweat. He tried to shut his eyes but he could not. But was he not sleeping?

He could not shut his eyes. He could not shut his eyes from the images he was seeing like flashes of powerful lightning. Images that were so familiar to him. Images of his past. Images of his hand slipping farther and farther away from his brother in mid-air as they had jumped out of the plane. Images of his beams shooting out and hurting many around him just because he had wanted to see the world around him. Images of his beams shooting the roof of the train station and injuring many under the rubble. Along with those images, he felt his ultimate fear of hurting Jean. The image of hurting her had seemed to become more intense, for he had remembered what he had done at the clinic. His mind began to think unconsciously between images. Was it his powers he could not control or was it himself he could not control?

"Scott," he heard Jean's voice whisper. But he knew it sounded distant. As if he could not reach her.

_Flash._

"_Your eyes?"_

_A woman stood there watching him. He knew she was watching him, although his eyes were closed. She looked at him intensely with mesmerizing brown eyes. But Scott could not open his own eyes._

_He remembered his eyes being blue. Or green. He tried hard to remember the color of his eyes. _

"_Black," the seductive voice spoke. "Beady black."_

"_What?" was all Scott's image could manage to say. He could not open his eyes. He did not want to open his eyes for fear of hurting whoever was in front of him or near him in any way._

"_Consuming. Un-merciful. Evil."_

_Scott stepped up to the woman who was speaking, as if he could see. He had to open his eyes. He had to see the blond woman who's voice and presence drove his mind and body with desire. He opened his eyes to see the blond woman with alluring brown eyes. Wait…no red beams had shot out of his eyes. _

_She looked at him with a hungry gleam in her eyes and handed him a mirror. Scott's shaky hand reached for it nervously. He looked at the back of the mirror for what seemed like long moments. _

"_Go ahead, look," she spoke as Scott looked at her with entrancement. He turned the mirror over slowly…_

"Scott," Jean whispered. His whole body shook lightly. But it seemed as if there had just been an earthquake. His eyes shot open to be met with beautiful brown ones that seemed to be sad. He sat up right and looked at Jean. He waited until she spilled what she seemed to want to say. She held his arm firmly. But he jolted it away from her without notice and with annoyance.

"Scott?"

"Jean, it was just a dream."

"I can't even feel it Scott. I can't."

"Jean……"

"Tell me Scott."

"Tell you about what? It's nothing."

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Scott had gotten away to clear his mind and get something to drink. He did not want to talk to anyone. Not after all of his vague memories of the destruction of Jean's office flooded over him rapidly. He peered into the refrigerator to grab a water bottle and gulp down the water that quenched his thirst. That was when he heard it. He heard the entrancing presence coming from the front door. So he pursued his curiosity.

He walked to the door and opened it before the bell even rung. And there stood a blond haired woman with a strapless black dress that pumped cleavage and flowed down to her ankles. Scott fumbled with his words as he looked her over. Then he looked at her brown eyes through his visor. He looked upon her well-built cheek bones and plump red lips. Where had he seen this woman before? She looked so familiar. "Have we met?" Scott finally asked after trying to find the right words.

"You must be imagining things," the blond woman said with a seductive smile. "I wish your words were true. Any woman would like to lay her eyes on such a handsome man." Scott's eyebrows shot up with surprise. She was very flattering. He held he hand as she extended it for an introduction. "I'm Pyrexia." She shook his hand lightly as she slid away from him, caressing his skin in the process. Her eyes were fixated on his own through the glinting of light that shone upon his glasses. "Nice sunglasses," she said as she looked at the night sky.

"Bad eye condition," Scott said quickly. He did not want her to think that he was some kind of freak.

"It's you," Jean said in a slightly unmannered way. She did not want to deal with her at the moment. But she still wondered what she was doing here.

"Hello, Dr. Grey," she said as Scott finally understood who she was here for.

"You can call me Dr. Summers now," Jean smiled in a fake manner, trying to be polite about it. But it was hard when an attractive woman was standing at the doorway calling her by her maiden name. Especially while her husband was almost drooling. Jean's heart sank at that, but she chose to ignore it.

"About that. I just wanted to return your wedding ring." She handed her the ring as Jean accepted it, expressionless. She watched the girl leave and she watched her husband watch her leave. She held her wedding ring in the palm of her hand for a few seconds and then looked to her left hand. Her ring finger was empty. She had thought it was there. How could it have slipped out without her noticing? She slipped the wedding ring back into her ring finger as Scott shut the door and looked to Jean with annoyance. Jean looked up, completely confused at his angry expression. Why should _he _be angry?

"How could you just lose your wedding ring?!?" Scott exclaimed as he looked to Jean irritably.

"Scott it was an accident," Jean said as her anger rose. "It's not as if I intended to lose it."

"How do I know that you're not lying?" Scott questioned unbelievably.

"What is wrong with you?" Jean asked with a surprised voice. Scott usually never acted this way. He might express his concerns in a calm fashion. But now he was just losing his cool for no apparent reason. "Why are you acting like this?"

"I'm acting like this because I think that was a very inappropriate way to treat a guest," Scott said as his strong jaw line cringed tightly. "Pyrexia did you a very kind favor and you didn't even have the heart to say thank you."

He looked to Jean with his arms crossed over his chest. Jean felt as if she had just been slapped in the face, hard. She could not even feel her heart beating anymore. It's as if it just stopped. Her knees grew weak and her stomach felt empty. Her head seemed to sway and her eyes grew weary. "Pyrexia," she whispered ever so lightly. Scott just looked at her with confusion. Unbelievable! She just spun on her heel to cover the tears in her eyes and almost raced to the nearest exit. Not even having to push Scott back so he would not follow her.

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Jean moved her eyes in an uncomfortable state behind her closed eyelids and pulled the white sheets along with the red flower covered comforter over her slightly revealing pajamas. She felt a chill go up her spine and up to her neck as goose bumps crept through her entire body as if she had just been shocked by lightning. It was not a good feeling, but nonetheless, it was a feeling. Jean's heart leapt for that one little moment.

But then she looked to her left to find an empty space. He had taken the couch for sleep tonight. Why was he doing this? Jean was going to find out tomorrow if it was the last thing she had to do, pushing Pyrexia aside. She had cried herself to sleep that night with sorrow. She swallowed the lump in her throat that was threatening to burst. She did not want to lose the old Scott but she was not so sure about the new one.

She tucked her tangled red hair behind her ear as she sank her head deep into her pillow. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This had reminded her of the times when they had started sharing a room together. Scott would often leave the room in the middle of the night because of his fear. His fear of harming her with his powerful red beams on accident when he was sleeping. She would always tell him that it would be alright because she knew he made sure that it was always on securely. Even when he did that, his fear had still haunted him and drove him crazy.

Jean felt it a few times. She felt his overwhelming fear. She felt his wonder of how it would feel to not see everything through his red-tinted glasses. She always told him that she loved him with or without his glasses. But she also wondered how his eyes looked. The eyes are the window to a person's soul, and sometimes it was hard to get through to Scott. She always could, she wanted to and knew how. She loved him. But recent doubts that he felt the same way were proven to be facts now.

Jean tried to make sense of everything and work it all out in her head, but it had been impossible. Everything was jumbled together confusingly. It did not make one bit of sense. She could not get her mind to think straight. So she closed her eyes as she felt emptiness for one second. A tear slipped down her cheek slowly as she brushed it away and felt insomnia creeping into her system.

Jean looked at her wedding ring in the dark room that shone with a hint of light from the crescent shaped moon outside. The light spoke of peace, but that was the last thing she felt. She twirled it around her finger to make sure it was not damaged. And it was not. It was shining brightly with cleanliness. But something was definitely missing. Her eyes were so watery, she did not know what. So she wiped the tears from her face and squinted her eyes at the ring curiously. It's beautiful engraving that Jean and Scott had chosen together was gone. It was simply gone. But she knew this was her wedding ring. How could this have possibly happened? She slipped the wedding ring out to look inside of it. In it was Scott's name still deeply and firmly engraved. She sighed with slight relief as she slipped it back in. She sat up in her bed with knitted eyebrows and fear of losing love, and life.

She thought of the woman, who's name was Pyrexia, coming to the mansion to give her the ring. She had mysteriously disappeared from the clinic. Maybe she had done something to it. But how? Was she a mutant?

Maybe Scott would understand. Jean shot out of bed and wore her robe and slippers. She raced down the steps and into the living room of the very large, yet cozy mansion. She had made her way in the dark and had entered the living room without turning the lights on.

She went to the window where Scott's shadow seemed to appear and stared blankly at his back. He was just staring out the window. Was he saddened by any of this? A spark of hope gleamed in Jean's eyes. "Scott?" Jean asked just to make sure he was here with his mind. He was so silent and still that she could not even hear him breathe.

She felt the shadows as if they were dancing to eerie music. She felt them as if they were hiding something from her and laughing at the fact that she did not know what the words of the music meant.

Scott turned to her, covering the shadow of the moon's light. He opened his closed eyelids as Jean stepped back with a gasp. What was he doing?

But after a moment she knew. He was looking at her through uncovered eyes. Jean squinted her eyes in disbelief. Now she was the most confused and unknowing person in the universe. She was like a baby coming out of it's mother. What the hell was going on here?

"They're blue," Scott said softly in a lower octave than his usual solemn voice. Jean turned on the light switch with her telekinesis. She approached Scott and ran her long fingers over his open eyes. They really were blue. Jean stepped forward to look at them closer. She suddenly got a feeling that made her feel as if she was about to have an emotional break-down. It was not a feeling through their vanished physic bond but a feeling of worry and surprise. A feeling of being lost. For in those blue eyes that she looked back at right this moment, there was emptiness looking back. No spark of life, no spark of love.

No spark of a soul.

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ALL SHALL REVEAL ITSELF IN DUE COURSE! AND I PROMISE THAT EVERYTHING WHICH IS CONFUSING YOU WILL ALSO REVEAL ITSELF! MORE TO COME SOON! BUT ONLY IF YOU REVIEW!!!


	4. Window to the Soul

****

Chapter 4

"Window to the Soul"

The dinner table was set with two white candles in the center, glowing with warm light. Flowered plates were neatly set for each person who was part of the X-men. The younger students already ate together in another room a little earlier. Now they were in their rooms studying for finals. The napkins were neatly placed on the right side of the plate with a knife over it and a fork on the other side. The smooth painted walls did not echo any sound coming from the people sitting around the table.

Bobby had not come down for dinner and Rogue had tried to talk to him earlier but it had not worked. He did not want to talk to anyone. Kurt and Storm were chatting before they began to eat and had abruptly stopped when everyone sat down. Logan had no sarcastic comments to say and Jean had been quiet all day, and was still quiet at the moment while she fiddled with her food. Nobody had seen Scott, until now. Which was why the table was so quiet. Not even Logan muttered a word.

As much as they all wanted to question why the hell Scott was not wearing his visor, they all felt weak. No one made eye contact and if they did they saw each other as lost in their own thoughts. Everyone had something on their mind that their mind was too afraid to speak out loud.

Until someone finally broke the silence. Someone who had caused ninety percent of the silence. "Why is everyone so quiet?" Scott questioned with disbelief as he looked to Jean and then to everyone else who had begun to fiddle with their food. "And why is everyone playing with their food? Come on. This is supposed to be a happy moment. I can finally see in color."

A piercing silence rung through the still air now. A painful aching ran through Jean's body. He seemed happy. Why shouldn't he be? But why is he not questioning any of this. Does he know why? If he did, why doesn't he speak? Jean wondered if he forgot about what he said earlier. About Pyrexia. It seemed as if he did not know what he was saying. Jean was confused. She was also carrying a load of worry on her back about the ring. She had not been able to tell him after the shock of seeing his eyes. But she began to realize it was for the better. He was already mad that she had accidentally dropped the ring at the office, how would he react to losing the engraving. He might think that it is not even her ring. But Jean decided to stay quiet. It helped with her confusion, anger, and sadness all at once. And tonight she was going to quietly sneak into cerebro and find this Pyrexia woman who seemed to capture her husband's attention.

"Does this mean that you're not goin' to be a part of us anymore?" Rogue asked with a hint of sadness in her voice from across the table. The sound in the silent room seemed to echo across the four walls in a piercing manner.

"Great!" Scott exclaimed. His voice seemed to change in tone and context altogether. Jean had known him almost all her life and never had she heard him be so bitter once in her life. It sounded as if he did not care. He sounded arrogant. "Now that I'm actually not a freak, everyone is feeling sympathetic towards me. Maybe I can finally live a normal life. I thought everyone would be happy. Now I realize that the only reason I fit in here is because I'm a freak. Does anyone really know me?" Jean winced at his words and then turned to Rogue to find tears in her brown eyes. Rogue did not like it when someone called her or anybody she cared about a freak. And now someone who she cared about was doing the thing that she hated most.

She shot up from her chair and put her gloved fists on the table top. She squinted her wet eyes towards Scott and pushed her head forward to see him from a closer angle. "Ah always wondered what it would be lahke to see your eyes. Somethin' that we all have. Somethin' that shows emotion. A window to the soul. At least that's what mah momma used to tell me," Rogue began as she felt all eyes on her. She pushed her chair back in frustration and pursed her lips in anger. "Now ah can finally see yours. And ah see nothing. Ah see emptiness."

"Rogue," Kurt interrupted, disturbed by her words. He believed that everyone had a soul. But he was somehow afraid to look at Scott. It was as if he did not know him.

"Scott," Storm began as she watched Rogue scurry out of the room. "Rogue's just confused. As are we all."

Scott creased his eyebrows in disbelief. He sucked his teeth for the first time since he was a teenager and looked Storm right in the eyes. He looked to Kurt and then Logan, who was surprisingly quiet. "I don't care. I am finally happy with myself for once in my life. I don't care what everyone else thinks."

One by one they all pushed their chairs back, leaving their plates on the table, and walked away. Scott just shrugged. There was still Jean. He reached over to cover her hand with his. "Can you believe them!" he exclaimed. Jean slipped it away. She got up, holding back the tears that were about to burst, and walked towards the exit. "Jean!" Scott exclaimed with rage as he hurried his pace towards her. But he was hit by an invisible shield. He watched Jean's back fade into the distance.

He blinked twice, finally feeling something stirring in his heart and mind. Some kind of emotion. Then he beckoned himself to the mirror to admire his eyes once more. He blinked twice, and the spark of feelings towards the woman who walked away and the family that did so also, was gone.

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Rogue sat on Bobby's bed. Bobby looked up at her, then laid back down. "Did I miss something important?" Bobby asked with a sigh as he made room for Rogue and she laid down next to him.

"Bobby, maybe we're lahke this for a reason," Rogue said lightly as she caressed his hand with her black gloves.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he turned to look at her with creased eyebrows. He wished he could kiss her again without being drained by her soft skin.

"If we didn't have these 'powers' as they call it, do you think we'd be together. Ah mean you and ah and all the X-men and X-kids," Rogue said as she gazed at him with wonder. She looked at his blue eyes. They seemed a little drained. A little weak. That was exactly how she felt.

"God does everything for a reason," Bobby said with a smile. He knew Rogue would understand what he meant. She was a believer with plenty of faith.

"God gave each and every one of us a soul," Rogue began, "mutant or human. Without a soul, do you think we would be mutants?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, without a soul, people wouldn't have basic human values or even deep feelings," Rogue said as she contorted her mouth into a frown. "So without a soul we wouldn't have 'triggers of heightened emotional stress' as Jean says. Therefore, we're left with no mutations."

Bobby kissed Rogue gloved hands that laid in his. He looked into her slightly weary eyes and nodded. "I guess I never thought about it that way."

A knock at the door sounded. "You kids better not be doing anything that needs parental super vision," Logan's voice spoke from the now cracked door. Rogue laughed at Logan's way of showing silliness. Logan nodded with the slightest smile and winked at Rogue as he left the room. Had he heard what they were saying? Of course, that what the wink was for. She knew Logan understood. She laid her head down on Bobby's chest and closed her eyes in hope for a better day tomorrow.

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Logan understood Rogue's words. Although he had gone through frustration of memory loss because of the experimentation done on him, he understood her words. Being mutant did not mean they did not have a soul and an operation could not take that away from him. He still had a soul, but he feared for Scott's. He felt as if Scott was so happy he could see his eyes that he forgot about feeling them. Was Jean satisfied with this? He had learned to move on from the woman he once admired, but he wondered if she was happy.

"Logan," Scott said through a whispered breath. He put his hand on Logan's shoulder as Logan turned around with knitted eyebrows. Did Scott actually have the guts to come and talk to him after the scene with everyone at dinner. Logan tried to ignore him and walk away, but something about Scott's words made him freeze.

"Are you still in love with her?" Scott asked through a light whisper. Logan turned around to look at Scott dead in the face. He held a solemn expression as he made eye contact. Rogue was right once again. Nothing. Emptiness.

"Who wants to know?" Logan asked gruffly.

"Are you?"

Silence.

"Good."

"What?!?"

"She's yours."

Logan wanted so badly to punch Scott. Many times. He had come to respect him but now he was way out of line. Punching him in the danger room after relieving stress because of Jean's death felt good to Logan. Now it would feel great. But contrary to his thoughts, he had been frozen in his place because his eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him. Or were they? Because he had just saw a sudden flash in Scott's eyes.

He was not really sure what he had just heard or even seen. He was sure his keen hearing abilities were working just fine. But he thought he needed to get a check-up for his eyes. What he had seen at the moment was as if he had been imagining. He watched the back of Scott's head turn the corner and disappear down the steps. Maybe what he saw was not his imagination.

Because he had seen Scott's eyes flash, for just an instance, bright red. As if fire sparked inside of them.

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"Admit it," the woman's low voice spoke roughly around the consonants of her words. "Now that your not a mutant anymore, something you thought you were all of your life--you would be one of those humans who protested outside the clinic, wouldn't you."

Scott looked up with a blank expression on his uncovered face. "I don't know."

"Liar," she spoke with force and nearly spat her words out.

"I don't know if I would be. I don't know who I am," Scott said helplessly as he got up from the sofa and walked around the room. His eyes grew darker by the second as the sun's shadow covered the living in which he was to sleep in. Scott looked out the window and did not allow the sun to wash over him with good feelings. He tightened his jaw and held the serious expression he had perfected to help him hold his feelings in. But right now all he was feeling was confusion. "I feel confused," he admitted, "like I was when Jean was attracted to Logan. I feel as confused as I was when I was lost and separated from my family. From the brother that I failed to save."

"From the people you injured at the train station because of your eyes," the woman spoke with a persuasive voice. "From the people you hurt before with your eyes and lack of being able to express your feelings. From the people you held back from. From the people you were afraid to hurt. The ones you kept your distance from."

"I'm not the only one with problems," Scott said with rising anger and a building rebellious feeling. "This whole world is full of people with problems. This whole world is full of people that have no idea of who they are."

"Yes," she said as she slid across the room. It looked as if her legs were painted away from her in a blur beneath her black dress. It was almost as if she was gliding or floating towards him. She came up behind him and hovered over his shoulder slightly. "But you have a chance to be unlike others. _I_ am _offering_ you a chance to find out who you really are." Her voice made him shudder, yet at the same time it made him feel warm. It made him have hope to actually find out who he really was beneath all the confusion. He hid his feelings away from everyone, including himself. He shut himself away from his feelings, in fear of what he would find if he went deep down into his soul. "Join me. Let you and your soul fall into my hands. We could divide and conquer the whole world, one soul at a time."

"My soul is not to be touched," Scott said strongly, holding a grudge against her ice words.

"Oh, sweet, enticing Cyclops, you are not realizing something," the woman spoke viciously as she placed her hands seductively on his shoulders and whispered in his ear. "You obviously don't know it, but you have already given me a little piece of your soul."

Scott's empty blue eyes widened with surprise. He felt empty, lost, confused. But he had one thing she could never take away from him: Jean. The woman's hands slid lightly down the middle of his back then retreated to sit on the arm of the sofa. She crossed her now visible, shapely legs and put her hands on her knee. Then she lifted one hand to her mouth and blew Scott a kiss.

"Who are you talking to Scott? What is wrong with you?!?" Jean said with disbelief as Scott turned to look at the woman he was talking to. He turned to Jean and Logan who stood in the doorway and realized that they can't see her. He turned back to the woman who had suddenly disappeared. His head jolted backwards and then lightly bobbed forward. He looked to Jean and Logan and smiled.

Jean looked at when he was talking lightly to himself. She thought she had seen the Scott she knew. But in a sudden instant he was back to the awkward and unorthodox way he had been acting. His empty blue eyes nodded at them lightly as he laid his body on the couch and closed his eyes. "Hope you two will be happy together."

Jean's jaw dropped as Logan looked to her and unsheathed his claws. She held him back from attacking Scott with her telekinesis, which came in handy this time. "Just go to sleep," she whispered to Logan who wanted to rip Scott into pieces although his idea would have been something he wanted long ago. But Logan obeyed and went to his room, knowing that he would wake up tomorrow with some action planned. Jean knew what he was thinking, but she was two steps ahead of him. She walked very quickly to the downstairs levels. No sleep tonight. No Professor here either, which made it easier to work cerebro with no objections but harder without the man who knew almost everything. She had to get into cerebro and find this woman who called herself Pyrexia. What kind of a name was Pyrexia? It sounded like some kind of drug.

She knew something was wrong with Scott. She knew something was wrong with the way he was acting and the sudden disappearance of his powers. And she definitely knew something was wrong with the woman who supposedly returned her wedding ring.

………………………………............................................................................................

Pyrexia slender fingers traced the red paint up and down until the image of shoulder length red hair was entirely filled in. She had drawn out the nose, the mouth, the cheeks and the eyebrows. They were all painted to the left of Pyrexia. The red rose in the middle of the painting glittered enormously. She filled in dark brown hair on the other side of the painting. The familiar face was painted to the right of Pyrexia and away from the rose. Pyrexia smiled as she looked at her painting sweetly.

"Hope you two will be happy together," she said smugly.

Now that she had Scott finally realizing what he really was, she was getting somewhere. Now that he has the woman who was once able to destroy the world as Phoenix all confused and depressed, he was finally opening a path for Pyrexia.

Pyrexia knew that Scott was finally giving in to his true self. His true, evil self.

………………………………............................................................................................


	5. To Conquer Evil

****

Author's Note: Sorry I took more than a month to update this story. This is very unlike me and I am ashamed : ( But I am cutting it short (I like the story but I feel it should end now) so don't be disappointed because more is coming soon. Many other stories are in store and most of them are JOTT. So JOTT lovers stay calm because this is not a tear jerker. Hehe. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy. And go read the latest story of Pinkchick's: Bond of Gold. Very heart warming and touching.

Sorry if there are many mistakes maybe in grammar or spelling, but I wrote this pretty quickly just so I won't keep any of you waiting any longer.

Chapter 5

"To Conquer Evil"

Jean searched through cerebro to pinpoint the woman she was looking for. She really was not very excited if she found her, but she would be hopeful. All the red lights shown to her as she concentrated on finding the one soul whom she was looking for. The professor always told her that a telepath needed to know what they were looking for when using cerebro in order to find it. She just wished life was that easy.

If she did finally meet face to face with Pyrexia after she herself found her, there was going to be a one on one battle between the two if Pyrexia did not speak clearly and inform her what she had been doing with her husband. Jean sensed she was a mutant from the moment she walked into the office. But she did not treat her differently than she would her other patients because she was no different. When Pyrexia came to the mansion to return the wedding ring that Jean had supposedly lost, she was absolutely sure that Pyrexia was a mutant. And she knew the woman was up to something. Jean always wondered who really walks out in those clothes? Unless, she wanted to snag someone's attention.

Jean had stared at her wedding ring for hours on end and started to think that Pyrexia had given her a fake in hope that this was not happening to her. In hope that Scott and her were still holding on to each other and the item that symbolized their marriage. She was surprised that Scott would be angry at her for supposedly losing the ring. He was the one who always told her it was not about the material objects that symbolized their marriage. He was the one who always told her that a tiny ring like that could not hold or symbolize all that love he had for her. He told her repeatedly that the ring would have to cost much more than the expensive price he bought it at to show his love to her. And she had trusted him. She had loved him back just the same. That was what she had held on to in hope of solving the confusion happening lately. But enough was enough when Logan told her what Scott had told him. She had completely lost her mind which was not such a great thing as a telepath who was once inhabited by the Phoenix.

Jean searched through the many mutants in this world who were living their lives normally. She searched through New York and then through the U.S. And she found many faces, except the one she was looking for. She tried the world just in case. With her eyes shut in concentration her face contorted into a frustrated expression. Was she not a mutant? Jean was sure she was. How would she just come to the mansion without fear as a human? How could she have taken her ring as a human? No, she had to be a mutant.

The full concentration on cerebro disappeared as Jean opened her eyes and released the helmet of cerebro from her head. She stared blankly at the gray walls in front of her. She walked with a solemn expression to the doors as they automatically opened before her and closed behind her.

It was the middle of the night and all through the mansion every soul was sleeping. So she made sure that the steps she took back to the kitchen were very quiet and discreet. She was hungry since she had not been eating dinner lately. She took a chocolate chip cookie from the cookie jar and devoured it with full satisfaction. Then she poured water into a glass cup and gulped half of it down her throat to quench her thirst. But she did not feel quenched. She felt as if she were drinking her water mechanically.

The red strands of her sweat covered ends blew away from her worried face. She turned to the back glass window of the kitchen to find it open. Knitting her eyebrows in paranoia she walked over to the open window with her guard up and her glass cup of water still in her hand.

Shattered glass filled Jean's ears and made her shudder as her eardrum vibrated. Her cheek was turned away from the window by a powerful gust of wind. It hurt, as if the wind had hands.

"You can't find me."

Jean's eyes widened at the voice. She used her telepathic abilities to try and find where the voice was coming from but she got nothing. Her body jolted back at the force of the block of her telepathic mind. The lights flickered as Jean was forced upon the edge of the kitchen counter. She fell to the floor in pain. But she struggled with all her energy to lift herself up, showing her attacker that she was not about to surrender.

"Wh-who are you?" Jean hesitated to ask. She tried to keep the nervousness in her voice low-key so she would not look so powerless. Then the black smoke turned into a physical formed she recognized right away. It was Pyrexia. Jean realized that Pyrexia looked less intimidating in the dim light of the kitchen then when she had been outside in the night, at their front door. Today, she did not feel like welcoming herself through the door.

Pyrexia's eyes threw invisible daggers at Jean and she suddenly remembered the power she had felt when the phoenix had inhabited her body. When Pyrexia finally broke eye contact with Jean through her beady eyes and blinked, Jean had lost that feeling completely. She felt weak but not empty and she knew she could not falter.

"You can't find me. I find you," Pyrexia said through a low and eerie voice. "I am not a physical being but an energy source of dark forces. I see people for who they really are. I saw right through Cyclops's visor, unlike the rest of you. I know his eyes have no color. I know he has no essence. I _know_ the red in his eyes is just a shield from the real flare to kill deep inside him."

"You're wrong!" Jean almost shouted. Her face was flushed with anger at Pyrexia's obvious arrogance and blindness. She turned her face forward to look Pyrexia right in the eyes. She could not help notice the symbol of an eyeball hanging from her large necklace. Why had she not noticed it before?

Before Jean could continue Pyrexia summoned fierce winds in the kitchen as the lights flickered and Jean saw her life flash before her. Scott was in every scene. "How would you know sweetheart?" Pyrexia said rather annoyingly. "Did you ever get to look at his eyes? Not until I gave him that privilege and your reaction was most expected. For me at least."

"Scott may hide his feelings from everyone else, but not from me," Jean spat irritably, trying to prove the point she knew was true. But at this moment, looking Pyrexia straight in her eyes, she doubted it for a second in the little time she felt she had.

"It was all an act for Cyclops," Pyrexia said slowly and slyly. "Everyone is scared of what Cyclops can _really_ do. All those feelings and hatred built up inside him can finally reveal itself for the good of the essence of life. What would be more perfect than a world where people were in chaos and fear every second of every hour? What would be more perfect than a world where people looked fear in the face and they finally realized that it is the ruler of their everyday lives? It would be so perfect for me. I'm quenched with the thought of a soulless world full of powerful lightening and smoke filled skies."

Jean's mouth was pursed in anger and frustration. Especially when Pyrexia continually called Scott Cyclops. "There's a force greater than you," Jean said rather quickly.

"Please _don't_ enlighten me."

"It's love."

"What? Nonsense. Your love for Cyclops?" Pyrexia spat in cockiness. "Even the symbol of your love, your ring of course, seems to be going against you. Because the rightful owner of Cyclops is me. He will be my heartless and merciless king. Side by side we will conquer this world one person at a time. I am starting my big plan with this house and he is starting his work with you. He will begin his real destiny."

Jean's face contorted into what her thoughts felt like right now. She concentrated on defending herself and her home with her powers, but it was useless. She fell to the floor as her body surrendered in defeat. But she knew her mind had not yet surrendered, therefore this was not over.

Pyrexia waved her slender fingers in the air as her silky blond hair blew furiously. "See you soon."

………………………………...

"Demon," a voice spoke loudly in the deep part of Nightcrawler's mind. "We need to kill the demon."

He had woken up after a frightful dream of not being able to see his eyes in the mirror. The same dream they all seemed to be having. But this time he felt it. He felt the pain of not having his yellow eyes. The eyes that normal humans, and even mutants were fearful of or intimidated by.

He had heard the voices in his dreams and now they would not leave him in his full consciousness. They were ringing in his ears. He tried to block them out but they would not desist. He suddenly began to itch his skin as he shot out of his bed with his flexible legs bent beneath him. The angelic symbols that were carved into his skin by him began to irritate him. His blue skin was becoming heated with fury and fear. Fear of the voices and fear of his own skin. What if people saw him as a blue man with unnaturally carved skin. What would they say?

Kurt neared his mirror and rubbed his empty eyes. He jumped back and landed on his bed. He began to teleport all across his room, the sound of his bamf sounding in the now smoke filled air. He finally stopped and landed in his chair. He leaned back and buried his face in his blue hands that had long yellow fingernails. Who was that man he had seen? He had been so frightening. Kurt tried to calm his fast beating heart, but it kept beating in his ears, every muscle in his body full of tension.

Were his worst fears coming to life? Was the nightmare he had woken up from becoming reality? With the thought of this, he raced to the door and ran outside. He walked quickly down the long corridor of the upstairs hallway decorated with red carpet. He turned his head back to see if the man he had spotted in his room was following him. His fast walking turned into jogging and then running. He ran around the corners until he made a full circle around the hallway, looking around him every few seconds. But something finally made him stop as he ran straight into Ororo. Ororo let out a loud scream which made Jean come running up the stairs to see what was going on.

"Storm, are you alright?" Jean asked as her heart beat faster with every event that took place these past two weeks.

Storm looked to Kurt with wide open brown eyes and he gave her the same expression causing Jean much confusion. Kurt spun on his heel quickly, looked erratically around as if he did not know where he was or who Jean and Storm were, and looked as if he had been trapped by four walls. Then he began to heave heavily, teleporting away after many long seconds of hanging silence.

"What's the matter with him?" Jean asked as she watched her best friend's eyes search the ceiling then the floor. Storm's eyes began to move in circles, very quickly. "What's wrong?" Jean tried to read her mind to find out what was wrong with her. After no answer, to her surprise, she found nothing.

"Why are you talking to me? Who are you? Where am I?" Storm said quickly with a shaking voice. Then her body began to shake, first with fear then with anger as Jean tried to calm her down. Maybe she could take her to the infirmary to see what was wrong with her. Maybe she was sick. But Jean only tried to make herself have hope with these words.

"It's Jean Grey," Jean began as if she was helping a friend regain her memory. "Your best friend. Your teammate. A fellow X-woman."

"You think I'm a freak like the rest of them!" Storm shouted. Jean felt heat build in the atmosphere of the mansion as if they were outside before a thunderstorm. "Don't talk to me like I'm one of you," Storm said between heavy breaths. She leaned harshly against the wall as if someone had pushed her. Jean's eyes were wide with concern and fear. What the hell was happening around here?

Storm's hands fluttered open and began to explore the wall as if she was holding on to dear life. It looked as if she was blocking moving walls from closing in on her. Jean knew Storm was claustrophobic, but this was a wide open space. Jean's hands gripped the railing as a gust of wind almost blew her down the steps.

"Mom, Dad. Don't let them keep me here!" Storm exclaimed frantically then muttered it over and over again to herself.

"Storm!" Jean yelled through the loud gust of the wind. She had obviously snapped Storm back from her aimless muttering. But she suddenly turned to Jean. She moved forward as Jean watched Storm's eyes roll to the back of her head and all that could be seen was white. She looked gloomy, the same way she looked when she summoned a tornado in the X-jet on a nigt mission a while back. Jean knew what was coming and acted on her instincts. "Sorry Storm," she said as she punched her jaw and Storm flew backwards. Her whole body shook as if she had just been shocked. Jean did not think it would knock her out. But that was even better at the moment.

"Pyrexia," Jean whispered to herself as she hurried down the stairs and to the library. "I've got to find Scott."

………………………………...

"Bobby," Rogue said silently as she smelled the cold air that filled one of the living rooms. Bobby sat down but kept eye contact with Rogue. He had fear and worry in his bright blue eyes but he still knew who Rogue was. "Logan left to get a beer. He didn't look too good. He looked furious. But I don't feel any worry."

"Rogue," Bobby said with intensity in his shaking voice. He did not seem to care what Rogue was telling him. "My parents are going to send me away. They don't know why though and I feel so ashamed."

Rogue ignored his words as if what she was going through was the most important thing here. She did not break her eye contact with Bobby as she neared him and he began to shiver. She slowly sat down beside him and his muttering stopped. Now he was silent, looking at Rogue intently, concerned with the gaze that she was giving him.

She began to slip one of her black gloves off very slowly, revealing a pale but very soft looking hand. Bobby flinched a little as Rogue placed her hand on his, but then relaxed when no energy was drained from him. "Rogue," he whispered as cold air escaped his mouth with a fit of shivers.

Rogue neared his lips intently and Bobby looked at her with longing and wanting for so long. He did not know what was happening, but now was the chance he finally had. Something he has been wishing for since the day he met Rogue in Storm's class.

Their lips became entangled mechanically and then untangled just as quickly. No energy was drained from him but also no passion. "I don't understand," Bobby said solemnly and blankly as he looked away from Rogue's empty brown eyes.

"Ah thought ah should be thah happiest person in thah world a moment ago," Rogue whispered with her shaped eyebrows knitted with confusion. She shook her head and turned to Bobby apologetically. "But ah feel empty Bobby. Ah feel empty. Ah feel lahke mah voice is not mahne. Ah feel lahke mah body is not mahne. Who am ah anyway?"

"I don't know. No one really knows who they are," Bobby spoke as Rogue listened to a stranger's voice that spoke of a concept she could not grasp too tightly.

For she felt as empty as a dead person.

………………………………...

Scott's empty eyes stared straight forward. Not admiring Ororo's beautiful garden or the twinkling stars in the sky that were half covered by clouds. He did not feel the fog around him and the sound of the moon twinkling.

"I feel empowered with strength and I like it," a woman's voice boomed in mid air. The coldness of the night's air made Scott's bones shiver. He listened to the voice as if he had heard it from the day he was born. The voice did not scare him. Nothing scared him, for he felt nothing. Only the night's cold breath. The voice did not scare him and neither did the presence. "Good souls being trapped and minds being lost is energy for me. This household holds much energy and stress."

The swirled colors of the woman in the black dress curled around Scott's body and stopped behind him. She placed her now solid hands on his shoulder and whispered in his ear. "I know you like it too. You love to kill, just like me. And what I like about you is…you don't even know it."

Scott searched his mind to finally bring himself to speak. "That's not true."

"I just had a little talk with your bride. What's her name…oh yes…Jean," Pyrexia said seductively as she leaned against Scott's side in her non-solid form of black smoke. "It's not that I wasn't able to take her soul through those teary green eyes. It's that I didn't want to."

Scott suddenly felt a jolt and then his anger rose quickly. He turned to look at the seductive woman. "Leave Jean alone. What do you want with her? What do you want with me?"

In response, nothing but cruel and torturous laughter was heard from the woman who had disappeared into thin air. Only an echo of her words were left behind. Words dripping with evil and disdain. "I'll see you tonight."

………………………………...

Jean's index finger searched through the many words of the book of mutants Professor Xavier wrote. She searched for the symbol she had seen on Pyrexia's necklace. The symbol of an eyeball. She read it out to herself in a whisper.

"One who wears this symbol is the thief of souls. It takes the shape of a human but is truly a powerful ball of energy. The physical form has to see the people in which it will take the souls of and look at their eyes, even just once. The thief of souls can also use a form of dark art to control the actions of those souls...

"The only way for it to live is to feed off of souls who have been damaged through life's hostilities. Souls that are unusual and have heavy loads of despair of emotional and physical stress," Jean looked up with hopeful eyes. So Pyrexia was after this mansion because so many of those souls lie in it. "What can stop her? What can stop her?" Jean exclaimed to herself as she kept skimming the page and turning it over to see if anything lies on the back.

But there was nothing. The information on this power had ended a sentence after where Jean had stopped reading. "Damn it!" Jean exclaimed with fury as she buried her face in her hands and sighed loudly and painfully. She looked at her wedding ring once more for the hundredth time today, and she looked at it long and hard. She slipped it off her finger to make sure Scott's name was still engraved inside. But the pupils in Jean's eyes narrowed until it seemed as if all that was visible was white.

S-C-O-T-T had disappeared before her eyes in a shadow of black. Jean's mouth hung open as she stared at the empty ring. But nonetheless, she slipped it back on her finger, more intrigued with the fact that this woman was the cause of all the chaos lately and Scott was innocent. Or was he?

No matter what though, she was going to keep the ring and keep him along with it. Maybe if she asked Scott who and where he had met these past two weeks she could figure out where Pyrexia was.

Jean searched the whole mansion. First telepathically, then physically. But there was no sign of him. She desperately needed to find Scott and ask him many important questions. She also needed to inform him about the crazy behavior of the members of this mansion. Jean fully believed that it was Pyrexia's doing. But she was not fully sure if Scott would care.

She turned the corner of the foyer and hurried through the door to check outside. He could be in the garage too. She moved forward and tried to see between the fog and the rain obviously caused by Storm's paranoia. Goose bumps ran up her arm and then covered her whole body in attempt to make her break out into a fit of shivers. The sky seemed to grow darker and Jean held her arm in her hand, rubbing furiously. She was beginning to feel scared. Maybe it was just the mood of the weather that affected her.

Why should she feel scared? She had not sensed anyone out here. She shook her head at herself in disbelief and spun on her heel. _Bam_. She suddenly felt something as hard as stone clash with her body and almost fell backwards. She felt her vision blur and for a moment, she felt as if she was going to turn into an ice statue.

But the arms clutched her roughly in an attempt to save her from falling. The strong arms held her firmly and brought her up slowly. He stood erect and looked at her through his blue eyes. They stood in silence for many seconds when he finally pulled her into an embrace. Jean's guard was let down as she melted into his chest. "Scott," she sighed out and felt warm in his arms. Was he snapped back into reality now? Jean didn't care, she was sulking in his arms voluntarily now.

They were finally at one with each other. They finally had hope to fight off Pyrexia together. A chance where he can show that arrogant woman who he really was and how mistaken she was about him.

"I love you, Scott," Jean said through a muffled voice in his chest and he held her tighter. Jean backed away from him lightly to look at his face. He was so handsome, especially in the wet rain that was coming down on them very heavily. He grabbed her wrists lightly and pulled her to him to kiss her lightly on the lips. Jean was shocked at how cold his lips were. She backed away from their kiss to look at him again.

He was not even shivering one bit in the cold of the rain and fog. Not the slightest shiver or goose bump on his skin. The trees around the mansion began to scream furiously across the wet air. He hadn't even answered back to her statement of loving him. Did he not love her back just the same? Maybe he was just confused of what was happening to him and the whole mansion along with it. "Don't worry, Scott. Everything will be alright. We can defeat Pyrexia together. She was the one who did this to you," Jean said lovingly as she stoked his strong jaw line.

But Scott's face seemed even more serious than ever. Even more than it was when she could not see his eyes. Jean just waited for a response. But there was just silence. Seconds later the silence was broken by a loud roar of thunder beneath the ground. The trees began to sway even more furiously as the rain fell even harder.

"She's not the enemy," Scott's voice finally spoke with a low vibration in his throat. His plump and wet lips were pursed tightly and Jean stepped back unconsciously. Her thoughts were now toppled over one another at his words. His grip tightened around her arms as Jean pushed them away with her telekinesis. His grip was even tighter than it had been the last time he attempted to grip her with harshness.

"What are you doing?" Jean asked with disbelief and fury as fire began to emanate around her with the force of the Phoenix. But Scott's gaze at her blew out the fire as he reached a hand to grab her throat. He lifted her above the ground and then dropped her seconds later, watching with satisfaction as she coughed for breath. She lifted herself off the ground with outrage as Scott held his stare even harder and longer this time.

Her energy was being drained from her body with every dagger he threw at her with his eyes. She suddenly fell to the ground and saw everything turning black.

The last thing she remembered seeing was Scott's empty blue eyes looking at her with the most cruel stare Jean has ever seen in her lifetime.

………………………………...

Jean opened her eyes to see everything hazy around her. She looked around her surroundings and tried to ignore the major headache she felt. She was in the back of Scott's red Mercedes. She remembered this car very clearly because of the memory she shared with Scott back here. It had been their one year anniversary and the car had broken down. It was cold that night, raining sleet. But Jean and Scott had found a way to keep themselves warm and that was when the bond had become stronger. They had had a two hour conversation before any physical action and Scott had allowed her to enter his thoughts as an anniversary gift. She had done the same and their bond had become even more powerful.

But right now she wanted to send Scott somewhere far and uncharted, which was what he seemed to be doing at the moment. She closed her eyes as she saw Scott turn his head to make sure Jean was still there and unconscious. Then she opened her eyes and silently looked out the window. The long pathway of the road was thin and a dead end with a huge bolder up ahead.

But the speed of the car accelerated and then stopped abruptly at the bolder, which caused the car to jolt. Jean had been forced to make a sound and realized that Scott had known she'd been awake. He got out of the driver's seat and into the back seat to pull Jean into a sitting position.

Jean could fight back with all her strength, but she did not want to. She knew if she escaped she would leave Scott with Pyrexia and loose him forever. So she decided to obey to everything Scott was doing. She did not struggle from his grip on her wrists. She did not struggle when he carried her over his shoulders and approached the rock.

They waited next to the rock for a moment's silence and then the ground beneath them opened as a hole big enough to drag them down under. Jean was screaming at the top of her lungs as they fell down the tube but Scott was so calm. When they made it underground they did not tumble over each other. Instead, Scott landed on his feet. He placed Jean harshly on her feet as Jean turned around to see what he was looking at.

The large square room was empty. It had a high ceiling that was enclosed. No crack of sunlight poured into the room. It was all rusty iron. Jean caught a glimpse of a painting in the back of the room. It was painted with Scott's eyes dark. The color of his eyes kept changing in the picture from empty blue to black. What Pyrexia thought was underneath.

__

The thief of souls can also use a form of dark art to control the actions of those souls... Jean remembered the words of the book. If she could control his soul with dark art then he still had one. So there was still hope.

But the spark of hope Jean had was vanished through the feeling of emptiness at the sight of black smoke. It filled their senses as Jean felt a force push upon her body and pull her to the wall. Her body seemed plastered there by a strong force. But Jean knew she could not break free, even with her powers, so she tried to relax her muscles.

Jean watched Pyrexia approach Scott and turn into her human form with her tube top black dress flowing behind her. The color did match her heart, if she had one. Pyrexia wrapped her arms around Scott's neck and embraced his lips with her own. They held the deep kiss for moments. Jean cringed as she felt like an actual sword had just pierced her.

Jean and Scott let out a small groan at the same time. Scott pulled Pyrexia away slowly. "Is something wrong darling?" Pyrexia asked smugly as she eyed Jean with no mercy and content.

"No," Scott denied. "Nothing's wrong, my love."

Jean's mouth was hanging open. It was obvious that Pyrexia had done this to him, therefore he was not his real self. But Pyrexia did not realize that and Jean feared that Scott would never realize it.

He approached Jean slowly and scowled at her with approval. "Your first experiment. Destroy her and gain a position next to me as the second thief of souls. And then we can rule the world," Pyrexia said as she broke out into evil laughter, circling the room through her black smoke.

Scott had his way. Pyrexia had her way. Scott tortured Jean physically and mentally. He punched her until she bled. He caused her to see all black and then almost go unconscious again. She felt the pain physically and emotionally as Scott converted his hate to her mentally. He even blasted her leg lightly with his red beams and that caused her so much pain. She knew that was how he was going to get rid of her. This was really the end.

As Scott was doing his work, Pyrexia began talking with pure victory. "You can be a mutant with power over the world. Over those who mistreated you. You deserve to hurt the people that hurt you in your life. They deserve nothing less. Being different will mean victory. You won't feel a sense of loss anymore. You won't have to question yourself about who you really are or feel 'bad' when you injure an 'innocent victim'. A life like hers is what mutants should have. Ha! Xavier believing that good wins over evil and mutants can live in a normal society as humans! What a bunch of rubbish."

Scott held Jean's throat in his hands harshly as Jean struggled for breath as her first instinct. Then the life and thoughts that were going through her head in a flash before she lost her life had flooded over to Scott who had suddenly loosened his grip on her throat. The memory of the night when their bond was strengthened in the Mercedes Scott owned washed over him like a waterfall let loose. The echo of Pyrexia's voice in the background of the scene began to shake.

"Wh?" Pyrexia's voice sounded through the air. It sounded scared, for once. Jean has never heard her like this.

Scott's grip on Jean's throat came loose and Jean fell from the wall and into his arms. She watched something come into Scott's blue eyes and they looked like pure light to Jean now. They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. At the same time, holes of light pounded through the half physical and have smoke part of Pyrexia. She yelled in agony and even Jean did not like to hear it. She did not like to hear anyone yell in agony.

"I love you Jean. I'm so sorry…for everything. I didn't know what I was doing," Scott said as he ran his fingers through her hair and heaved a loud sigh. His voice was full of purity and love and the normal Scott she knew. How could Pyrexia ever think of him like that.

Scott turned to Pyrexia with anger. "Being a good mutant is what I am. That's what makes me who I am and I'm proud of it!" Scott said with a shaking voice of fury. "I don't like to hurt people. I'm an X-man to save and unite people. And…and I would NEVER EVER hurt Jean!" Scott held back his powerful red beams. As much as he wanted to hurt Pyrexia, he knew he was better than her. He leaned in to lock lips with Jean.

The kiss was apocalyptic. Their souls, thoughts, and feelings emerged with this deep kiss as the light struck through Pyrexia and the black smoke evaporated into thin air. She had made a hole in the ceiling and now the sun shone through, striking the middle of the dark room and then filling it with pure light.

Scott embraced Jean in a long hug as he began to cry. Jean had never seen him cry and shake this way before. "Why me? Am I really what she says?"

"Don't you ever say that," Jean began as she held him tightly like she's never held him before. "Her belief of you being like that was so strong that she wanted to make it true. She was just blind to see that there is something in there. But our love was stronger than an all powerful thing." Jean leaned forward to kiss his tear streaked, closed eyelids. The blood upon her face streamed down unto his as their flesh met. Her breaths were heavy from the pain she was feeling, but the hope and love for Scott conquered that pain. It felt as if she had no body, just a floating soul. "They're the most beautiful things I've ever laid my eyes on." Jean held him to her chest and reassured him that everything was going to be fine. That she would keep him warm. She felt his flustered mind and his thoughts of the people he has hurt in the past.

"Scott, it's people's weaknesses that make them strong. It makes us want to fight for something more. And there is no beauty without flaw."

………………………………...

"Love can conquer anything," Scott said victoriously to the camera man outside the clinic as he held Jean to him closely. "And if anyone tries to close this clinic again I think we all have enough love to defeat it." Jean smiled and kissed him. Scott winked at all the X-men (who were back to normal) behind him.

He had opened the clinic for Jean as an anniversary present and was going to give her another present tonight. Jean looked at her ring and smiled to see that the engraving and the name had appeared once more. Scott had even volunteered to polish it for her. How could she have ever doubted their love? She knew she would never again doubt anything about this saint. Scott looked to Jean lovingly and said, "I love you."

"I love you too."

………………………………...

Short and Sweet. Now REVIEW!


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